Harmony Has More ‘Unacceptable’ Deaths After Mine Fire

Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HAR) stopped all
operations for a day of safety checks as two workers died in
separate accidents days after an underground fire killed nine in
South Africa.

“The past two days have been tragic for Harmony, having
lost our colleagues at three of our operations in three separate
events,” Graham Briggs, chief executive officer of the South
African company, said in a statement. “This is unacceptable.”

Managers will lead teams underground to reinforce safety
messages and procedures after one worker died during blasting at
the Joel mine in Free State province and another was buried
under waste rock at Kusasalethu, one of Harmony’s largest mines.
Nine workers died at Doornkop mine after a rockfall on Feb. 4
started a fire underground. That’s the most deaths in a single
event in the company’s history.

South Africa, once the largest gold producer, has some of
the deepest mines as aging deposits prompt companies to dig down
for ore. The Doornkop accident is the nation’s worst since nine
died in 2009 at a site run by Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP), the
second-largest miner of the metal used in rings and necklaces.

Harmony fell 2.8 percent to 28.95 rand at the close in
Johannesburg, the lowest since Jan. 15. The company posted its
third loss in the past four quarters on Feb. 3.

Bad Start

About 95 people died in South African mines in 2013,
according to Paul Mardon, head of safety at trade union
Solidarity. That compares with a mining ministry figure of 112
the year before.

“We’ve had a bad start to the year,” Mardon said today by
phone. While most mines improved safety, “unfortunately there’s
also pressure to increase production” as commodity prices fall.

Gold slid by 28 percent in 2013 and platinum 11 percent.

The deaths in the three Harmony accidents this week already
surpasses the nine people killed at its mines in the fiscal year
ended June 2013, according to its latest annual report. At least
82 illegal miners died at a disused mineshaft owned by the
company, South Africa’s third-largest gold producer, in 2009.

Search and rescue and deep-level firefighting teams were
sent to Doornkop after the blaze broke out 1,733 meters (5,700
feet) below the surface this week. About 130 workers were
underground at the time, with 35 in the immediate vicinity of
the fire and 18 of those able to escape immediately, Briggs told
journalists yesterday. Eight miners were found in an underground
refuge chamber and brought out unharmed on Feb. 5.

The bodies of eight missing miners were found yesterday,
the company said in a statement. The body of the last worker not
accounted for was located today, Charmane Russell, a Harmony
spokeswoman at Russell & Associates, said by phone.